It’s fascinating to listen to the news broadcasters taking some very high moral ground this week, as they report lurid stories of alleged sexual abuse of both men and women by Members of Parliament. Everyone agrees that this is shock-horror stuff, posture amazement, and insist that it must stop. It’s almost like watching one of the old interviews with Mary Whitehouse

Whatever happened to the whole “let’s ditch morality” thing, and “no more hang-ups about sex” – whatever happened to sexual freedom and liberalism?

Comment:

Will it be possible to change the culture in Westminster, but not in the rest of the country? Should we really expect the politicians to live by a higher standard of sexual morality than that taken for granted in the wider (very) sexually permissive society, UK-wide?

Oh, and wouldn’t this be the ideal time for the Bishops to be speaking out – sort of “We [or, more accurately, God] told you that sexual permissiveness brings nothing but misery” – wouldn’t that be something for the population of the UK to hear and ponder?

Last year, four cardinals had made public their criticism of the Pope with their “Dubia”. For this they learned a great deal of counter-criticism. One of them now defends the requests to Francis.

The Four Dubia Cardinals- two now dead.

The German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller defended the “Dubia”, which he co-wrote, to Pope Francis. He understood the criticism that had triggered the publication of the questions. But the step was “only taken after a waiting for an answer”, he said in the interview of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Saturday). “And especially with regard to the fact that many believers have had the same questions and are waiting for an answer,” the Cardinal explained.

“What do you mean, what phone calls, letters, inquiries we get?”, Brandmüller continued. “They also say,” Why do you not do anything, you Cardinals ? “We finally made an oath of office and are by office advisers to the Pope.” They had asked for an audience, but they also did not receive an answer on this, the 88-year-old said.

In the context of his view of liberal interpretations of the Papal letter, the Cardinal emphasised: “It is a dogma that marriage is a sacrament and therefore indissoluble.” This means, “He who asserts that one can enter into a new marriage during his lifetime of his lawfully married wife is excommunicated, because this is an erroneous teaching, a heresy.” Whosoever is aware of a serious sin such as adultery, can only go to the Eucharist if he has previously repented, confessed, and been forgiven.

He had “great concern that something would explode,” said the former President of the Vatican Historical Commission. The fact that the requests of thousands of people remained unanswered, raised questions. “This is really hard to understand,” the prelate said.

After all, the central question is: “Can something [be] good if something was a sin yesterday?” In addition, the question is asked whether there really are acts that are “morally reprehensible” under all circumstances – such as the killing of an innocent or adultery. “If in fact the first question should be answered with yes and the second with no – then this would be heresy, and, as a result, schism, division of the church,” said Brandmüller.

The Papal letter “Amoris laetitia” of 2016 is the reason for the “Dubia” (doubts). The Pope said that Catholics who had married again after a divorce could be admitted to the communion. The Cardinals Walter Brandmüller, Raymond Leo Burke and the now deceased Carlo Caffarra and Joachim Meisner first asked Francis personally, then in November last year publicly to clarify the interpretation and categorisation of “Amoris laetitia”. Source

Our group prayed the fifteen decades of the Rosary outside St Bride’s in Cambuslang today at 2pm. We then prayed the St Michael, Archangel prayer (original version) and sang “I’ll Sing a Hymn To Mary”. Before the Rosary, during the Prayer to St Michael, and at the end of the event, different members of our group sprinkled the doors of the church with holy water.

Today, the weather was cold but dry.

Imagine then, our astonishment, when a rainbow appeared over the church during the Joyful Mysteries, fading away as we began the Sorrowful Mysteries. During the Sorrowful Mysteries, a few drops of rain fell: “not even a drizzle” as one person said, only a few drops (later, someone suggested that those few drops might represent Our Lady’s tears). Then, for the first three decades of the Glorious Mysteries, the rainbow re-appeared arching right over the church building, disappearing again during the final two decades. The rainbow was much brighter during the Glorious Mysteries than during the Joyful Mysteries.

As our group dispersed and I was heading out of the church grounds, I saw Fr Morton who approached me with outstretched hand. All the rumours about him are true – he is a very nice person, kindly and friendly. When I told him about the rainbow he made the obvious (joking, I hope!) connection with the LGBT lobby but I reminded him that they have stolen this beautiful biblical image – so, no, the rainbow, we believe, was not God signalling his approval of homosexuality, but – on the contrary – God’s merciful and generous way of letting us know that He is pleased with our humble effort to make reparation for the recent scandal associated with St Bride’s, and we pray that some repair has been achieved.

I had a very pleasant short chat with Fr Morton – he is, certainly, as many people have told me, a very nice person, most affable and approachable. Let’s all continue to keep him in our prayers. To comment, click here

ORIGINAL NOTICE…

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?

Just telling a few people about the Evening Times report and our blogon the scandal of Father Paul Morton this evening after Mass, we have around a dozen signed up for a public Rosary of Reparation to take place outside St Bride’s church in Cambuslang. Details of date and time will not be published in order to minimise the possibility of troublemakers seeking to disrupt our prayer, but anyone who is interested in participating is welcome to email me on editor@catholictruthscotland.com

Email to let me know to which parish you belong and why you are interested in joining us for this public rosary. None of your personal details will be published.

There is a very seriously concerned group of people from the Diocese of Motherwell who also wish to join us – note, it was one of these parishioners from the Diocese who alerted me to the Evening Times report yesterday. It looks like we will have a fairly strong group, then, judging by the interest so far, but please encourage as many people as possible, to come along. There could never be too many. It has been made clear to us now that Bishop Toal approves of Fr Paul Morton’s public statement of approval for indoctrinating children with LGBT propaganda, with specific reference to “transgenderism”. This is an outright scandal and must not be permitted to pass without protest and, above all, a protest of reparation. We plan to pray the fifteen decades of the Rosary, and the Prayer to St Michael (which is essentially a prayer of exorcism) so do, please decide to come along to please Our Lady by seeking her powerful intercession in ending this diabolical scandal.

Holy Michael, Archangel, defend us in the day of battle – Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the Devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
By the power of God, Cast down into Hell, Satan, and all wicked spirits, Who wander through the world, for the ruin of souls. Amen.

A PRIEST from Cambuslang has become the first Catholic representative to support teaching children about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues in school.

Fr Paul Morton encourages LGBT lessons in schools…

Father Paul Morton, of St Bride’s Parish Church, says bullying due a child’s gender identity or sexual orientation should be a “thing of the past”.

The priest has lent his support to the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign, which was set up by two Glasgow men in a bid to crack down on homophobic abuse in the classroom.Click here to read Evening Times report Cambuslang priest first Catholic representative to support LGBT education in schoolswhich headline is a tad stronger in the print edition of the newspaper, to read: Pioneer Catholic priest’s backing for LGBT rights.

Seems like only yesterday we were discussing this same priest’s public support for homosexuality; our call for Bishop Toal to act at that time, went unheeded, and so, taking his lead from the Bishop’s tolerance, he has moved forward from “welcoming” active homosexual couples to his Masses, to seeking to educate children in the same vice. Clickhereto read our previous discussion…

Now, having pretended that his only interest was in making people feel welcome, he has moved on to recite the LGBT mantra about “homophobic” and “transgender” bullying. Some chance. Heavens above, it’s impossible to say a word – not a single word – to express disapproval of the evil of homosexual activity, without finding yourself plastered over the front page of a tabloid or, in my own case, nominated for theStonewall Bigot of the Year award, so it’s a joke to suggest that any homosexual or “transgender” person is bullied.

One thing we never actually deal with – one thing never dealt with – when discussing LGBT “rights” is what they actually DO. What IS it that is so objectionable? Why is it that we are shocked that any Catholic priest would encourage children to participate in such behaviour as this

The above link to what homosexuals do, is mild. Anyone who has ever visited a “gay” website, will know that. Still, it gives a flavour of precisely what it is that this priest, and his Bishop – Joseph Toal – is shamelessly promoting. Or, more accurately, “proudly” promoting.

Challenge From Editor, Catholic Truth, To Father Morton…

I’ve tried phoning Father Morton several times but keep getting a voicemail telling me that he is not available to speak and I can’t leave a message. You’d almost think he knew that the caller is li’l ole moi… Poor souls trying to get through with a sick call, if priests like Fr Morton still do such mundane things as attend to the sick, or administer the sacraments to the dying. Must be a worry, having an LGBT celebrity as your Parish Priest.

Anyway, here’s why I was ringing… I rang to say “Hello, there, Father….Let’s debate St Catherine of Siena’s call for Pope Gregory XI to “rid the Church of bad priests and rulers who poison and rot that garden [the Church]” Some motion to the effect that St Catherine’s description of priests who “poison and rot” the Church applies today, more than ever, including to Fr Morton himself. I do wish he’d answered his phone.

Not to worry – I’ll email him the link to this thread in the [fond] hope that he takes up the challenge… I’ll also email the link to Bishop Toal, who is gravely responsible before God for this scandal. He can have a ringside seat at the debate where he might reflect on the contrast between his suspension of Father Matthew Despard for writing a book exposing the homosexual culture within the Diocese of Motherwell – a fact confirmed by Fr Morton – while being complicit in Fr Morton’s guilt by allowing him free rein to encourage homosexual activity, Communion for unrepentant public sinners and now, actively promoting the corruption of school children into the euphemism of “LGBT rights”.

On October 13, 2016 the Pope received a group of 1,000 Lutherans and Catholics from Germany in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall and addressed them from the stage where a statue of Luther was erected.

Medias-Presse.Info reports the scandal of an Italian bishop praising Luther’s Reformation as “a work of the Holy Spirit”. Unfortunately, there is no official English translation available, so our French blogger, Lionel, offers the following summary, with commentary:

Bishop Nunzio Galantino is not just any Italian bishop: he is the General Secretary of the Italian Episcopal Conference, a position of high responsibility.

His latest statement has a flavour of public apostasy and denial of Catholic doctrine: for this prince of the Catholic Church, the reform of Luther is simply “a work of the Holy Spirit”!

These scandalous words, because one must never stop being scandalized by such heterodox remarks, resonated within the Pontifical Lateran University during a conference on the theme “Passion for God, spirituality and theology of the Reformation in 500 years of his birth “, organized by this Vatican University.

Bishop Galantino began by reading an excerpt from Luther, historically considered offensive to the papacy: “I rose against the pope, indulgences and papists, but without tumult and without violence. I put forward the Word of God, I preached, I wrote; I did not do anything else. And while I slept, … that Word I preached overthrew popery, ” then affirming: “The Reformation launched by Martin Luther 500 years ago was an event of the Holy Spirit. ” Rien que ça!

He then developed his praise of the German heresiarch in front of his audience:

“The Reformation responds to the truth expressed in the formula” ecclesia semper reformanda “. Luther himself wrote, “And while I slept, God reformed the Church” – he did not consider himself the architect of reform.”

“Today, too,” said the Italian bishop, “the Church needs reform. And only God can realize it. “

You do not have to be a great cleric to understand that what Bishop Galantino professes is not very Catholic: he takes Luther’s bluster for Gospel words and denies his infallibility to the Council of Trent, which anathematized the Lutheran heresy. The world upside down ! Let us remind this high ranking of the conciliar Church that Luther did not reform the Catholic Church under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, as he suggests, but that he founded a Christian sect, fierce enemy of all that is Catholic! True!

But the peroration of the Monseigneur does not stop there. He digresses to the Second Vatican Council, and there we will not contradict his statement, some truths also come out, sometimes, from the mouths of the enemies of the Truth. According to IEC number 2, Luther’s love for the Word anticipates the sacramentality of the Word affirmed at the Second Vatican Council. This is affirmed by a conciliar [Father], by the statement made by Archbishop Lefebvre after the Council, that Vatican II is an extension of the Protestant Reformation and leads to it, as this speech by Bishop Galantino allows us to glimpse: “this reform was born of liberalism, of modernism, is entirely poisoned; it comes out of heresy and ends up in heresy,…” [Archbishop Lefebvre] declared in 1974.

Bishop Galantino concluded by recalling Pope Francis’ gesture in Lund, Sweden, to commemorate the 500 years of the Reformation: “He signed a joint declaration to overcome the reciprocal prejudices that still divide Catholics and Protestants. And this same pope acknowledged to Luther, continues Bishop Galantino, the merit of “wanting to renovate the Church and not divide it”. Je rêve! END OF LIONEL’S SUMMARY

Then, today, blogger Westminster Fly posted the following commentwith link on the ‘Even Newer Mass(es)’ thread. Since his short and shocking linked report represents what is, in effect, the logical conclusion of “the spirit of Vatican II”, it is also appropriate to discuss it on this thread. Westminster Fly writes:

In a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, who was the personal papal theologian to Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II, revealed: “In the Third Secret (of Fatima) it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top”. And then I see this… Note: you can read the entire First Things article by Marco Tosatti (a Vaticanist who writes from Rome) here

Click here to read about the Scottish Government’s plans to ban smacking. Parents who choose to discipline their children with a timely smack, are to be criminalised – although we’ve yet to find out exactly how this crackpot law will be enforced. Below, a letter written by our blogger, Athanasius, which was published in The Scotsman Newspaper:

LETTER from blogger, Athanasius (Martin Blackshaw) published in The Scotsman…

The arrogant interference in family life by Scotland’s political leaders is again on display as a recent ComRes poll, reported in the Scotsman, shows them at odds once more with parents, this time in the matter of smacking children.

Having already ignored the will of parents and the Supreme Court by forging ahead with their State-usurping Named Person scheme, it seems the next step in eradicating parental authority is to criminalise so much as a slap on the hand or the leg of a child.

They say it’s all in the interests of child safety and wellbeing, a red herring argument backed with endless liberal psychobabble about how smacking can scar the mind of a chastised child for life.

These are the same politicians who dismiss traditional Christian moral teaching in State schools, choosing instead to rob Scottish youth of its innocence at a vulnerable and tender age through sex education. That too is backed up with psychobabble despite a shocking decline in youth morality since the almighty switch from God to government began in the 1960s.

Well I have some news for our politicians, it is that I was smacked countless times by my parents when I was growing up and I love them for those corrections. Children, like adults under the law, have rules to obey if they are to enjoy true liberty. Parents understand this and that’s why they enforce the rules with the threat of physical punishment if breached. It’s a tried and tested method both privately and publicly over many millennia by authorities who actually had children of their own and truly cared for their welfare. Holyrood hippies take note! END.

Comment:

Given that the majority of the politicians are childless who are leading this drive to criminalise loving parents for their choice of discipline, albeit that it may be a rare, even one-off, occurrence, it seems like a monumental cheek for them to set themselves up as experts in any aspect of childcare. How unreasonable is that?

Parents, on the other hand, tend to be even handed, reasonable to a fault when it comes to disciplining their offspring. Some of them have even launched a group emphasising this parental reasonableness. Click here to reach their website. It’s great to see parents leading the fightback by refusing to accept this latest bullying attempt by the Scottish Government to take control of the nation’s families.

It’s time that the Scottish Bishops did the same, time that they exercised their duty to support parents in the raising of their children, by objecting, publicly, to this latest State intrusion into private family life. But, will they?

Text of the Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio “Magnum Principium” Quibus nonnulla in can.
838 Codicis Iuris Canonici immutantur
APOSTOLIC LETTERISSUED MOTU PROPRIOOF THE SUPREME PONTIFFFRANCISMAGNUM PRINCIPIUMBY WHICH CAN. 838 OF THE CODE OF CANON LAW IS MODIFIED
The great principle, established by the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, according to which liturgical prayer be accommodated to the comprehension of the people so that it might be understood, required the weighty task of introducing the vernacular language into the liturgy and of preparing and approving the versions of the liturgical books, a charge that was entrusted to the Bishops.

The Latin Church was aware of the attendant sacrifice involved in the partial loss of liturgical Latin, which had been in use throughout the world over the course of centuries. However it willingly opened the door so that these versions, as part of the rites themselves, might become the voice of the Church celebrating the divine mysteries along with the Latin language.

At the same time, especially given the various clearly expressed views of the Council Fathers with regard to the use of the vernacular language in the liturgy, the Church was aware of the difficulties that might present themselves in this regard. On the one hand it was necessary to unite the good of the faithful of a given time and culture and their right to a conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations with the substantial unity of the Roman Rite. On the other hand the vernacular languages themselves, often only in a progressive manner, would be able to become liturgical languages, standing out in a not dissimilar way to liturgical Latin for their elegance of style and the profundity of their concepts with the aim of nourishing the faith.

This was the aim of various Liturgical Laws, Instructions, Circular Letters, indications and confirmations of liturgical books in the various vernacular languages issued by the Apostolic See from the time of the Council which was true both before as well as after the laws established by the Code of Canon Law.

The criteria indicated were and remain at the level of general guidelines and, as far as possible, must be followed by Liturgical Commissions as the most suitable instruments so that, across the great variety of languages, the liturgical community can arrive at an expressive style suitable and appropriate to the individual parts, maintaining integrity and accurate faithfulness especially in translating some texts of major importance in each liturgical book.

Because the liturgical text is a ritual sign it is a means of oral communication. However, for the believers who celebrate the sacred rites the word is also a mystery. Indeed when words are uttered, in particular when the Sacred Scriptures are read, God speaks to us. In the Gospel Christ himself speaks to his people who respond either themselves or through the celebrant by prayer to the Lord in the Holy Spirit.

The goal of the translation of liturgical texts and of biblical texts for the Liturgy of the Word is to announce the word of salvation to the faithful in obedience to the faith and to express the prayer of the Church to the Lord. For this purpose it is necessary to communicate to a given people using its own language all that the Church intended to communicate to other people through the Latin language. While fidelity cannot always be judged by individual words but must be sought in the context of the whole communicative act and according to its literary genre, nevertheless some particular terms must also be considered in the context of the entire Catholic faith because each translation of texts must be congruent with sound doctrine.

It is no surprise that difficulties have arisen between the Episcopal Conferences and the Apostolic See in the course of this long passage of work. In order that the decisions of the Council about the use of vernacular languages in the liturgy can also be of value in the future a vigilant and creative collaboration full of reciprocal trust between the Episcopal Conferences and the Dicastery of the Apostolic See that exercises the task of promoting the Sacred Liturgy, i.e. the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is absolutely necessary. For this reason, in order that the renewal of the whole liturgical life might continue, it seemed opportune that some principles handed on since the time of the Council should be more clearly reaffirmed and put into practice.Without doubt, attention must be paid to the benefit and good of the faithful, nor must the right and duty of Episcopal Conferences be forgotten who, together with Episcopal Conferences from regions sharing the same language and with the Apostolic See, must ensure and establish that, while the character of each language is safeguarded, the sense of the original text is fully and faithfully rendered and that even after adaptations the translated liturgical books always illuminate the unity of the Roman Rite.

To make collaboration in this service to the faithful between the Apostolic See and Episcopal Conferences easier and more fruitful, and having listened to the advice of the Commission of Bishops and Experts that I established, I order, with the authority entrusted to me, that the canonical discipline currently in force in can. 838 of the C.I.C. be made clearer so that, according to what is stated in the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, in particular in articles 36 §§3.4, 40 and 63, and in the Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio Sacram Liturgiam, n. IX, the competency of the Apostolic See surrounding the translation of liturgical books and the more radical adaptations established and approved by Episcopal Conferences be made clearer, among which can also be numbered eventual new texts to be inserted into these books.

Therefore, in the future can. 838 will read as follows:

Can. 838 – §1. The ordering and guidance of the sacred liturgy depends solely upon the authority of the Church, namely, that of the Apostolic See and, as provided by law, that of the diocesan Bishop.

§2. It is for the Apostolic See to order the sacred liturgy of the universal Church, publish liturgical books, recognise adaptations approved by the Episcopal Conference according to the norm of law, and exercise vigilance that liturgical regulations are observed faithfully everywhere.

§3. It pertains to the Episcopal Conferences to faithfully prepare versions of the liturgical books in vernacular languages, suitably accommodated within defined limits, and to approve and publish the liturgical books for the regions for which they are responsible after the confirmation of the Apostolic See.

§4. Within the limits of his competence, it belongs to the diocesan Bishop to lay down in the Church entrusted to his care, liturgical regulations which are binding on all. Consequently this is how art. 64 §3 of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus as well as other laws are to be interpreted, particularly those contained in the liturgical books concerning their revision. Likewise I order that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments modify its own “Regulations” on the basis of the new discipline and help the Episcopal Conferences to fulfil their task as well as working to promote ever more the liturgical life of the Latin Church.

Everything that I have decreed in this Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio must be observed in all its parts, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, even if it be worthy of particular mention, and I hereby set forth and I dispose that it be promulgated by publication in the daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, that it enter into force on 1 October 2017, and thereafter be published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

Given in Rome, at St. Peter’s, on 3 September of the year 2017, the fifth of my PontificateFRANCISCUS P.P.

Note: [at source, read also the Comment on the Motu Proprio by the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]

Comment:

The Catholic Herald sees no problem with the above – indeed, some might argue that the Herald’s assessment is somewhat naïve since few informed Catholics today have any confidence in the bishops, not to mention Pope Francis, not to damage the Mass even more than has already been achieved by the Bugnini revolution.

The Remnant is closer to the truth: “Paragraph §4 makes it clear that the pope has now given bishops the power to determine much of the Church’s liturgical direction. “Within the limits of his competence, it belongs to the diocesan bishop to lay down in the Church entrusted to his care, liturgical regulations which are binding on all.”

This opens the door, not only to greater liberty in translating liturgical texts, but to creativity in drafting their own texts and rules. The bishops of an episcopal conference can now decide that if the faithful kneel to receive Communion, receive only on the tongue, or fail to participate in the hand shake of peace, this could be grounds to refuse them Communion.

The new motu proprio also supersedes Pope Benedict’s Summorum Pontificum, which dispensed priests from the need to obtain episcopal permission to say the Traditional Latin Mass. With the new ruling, an episcopal conference can now rule that the offering of the Latin Mass is forbidden in a given diocese, or in an entire country, so that traditional Catholics no longer have the option of appealing to Rome for help. The episcopal ruling is now Church law.” [emphasis added]

What we are seeing is a further attempt to pull the Catholic world away from the Church’s centralized authority and have a whimsical free-for-all. Francis himself, on October 17, 2015, called for a “healthy decentralization” of power in the Roman Catholic Church, including changes in the papacy and greater decision-making authority for local bishops, so this latest motu proprio is part of his plan to execute this decentralization. END

Which commentator, in your opinion, has got it right – the English Catholic Herald or the American Remnant? (The Scottish Catholic Observer is too busy reporting on the Women’s Guild latest coffee morning to worry about incidentals like the liturgy.) Comments invited…

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